We were created to worship. Everybody worships something. In our culture we see it most prominently in the praise and worship of sports stars and teams, movie stars, or singers. One of the most popular TV programs today, show casing new singing talent, is called “American Idol,” knowing that the winner may be the next star whom people will praise. Of course, God put this need to worship in each of our hearts so that we would worship Him. In the passage we are examining today from Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul prays for the Ephesians, and by extension us, that they would know the great power and love of God which results in praise and worship of God. So let’s look at our text:
Eph 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Eph 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
Eph 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
This passage closes out the first half of the letter to the Ephesians, where Paul lays down doctrinal truths which cause him to worship and are the foundation for the application of these truths which he lays out in the the last half of the letter.
He starts out his prayer with, “For this reason.” So you might ask, “For what reason?” Let’s do a quick review of the letter of Ephesians to this point to see the reason Paul bows before the Father. He gives many reasons that are related and can be summed up in God’s great power and love.
In Chapter 1, Paul points out that, because of the Father’s love, before the world was made, He chose us to be adopted as his children and experience every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Because of the riches of His grace, Jesus Christ shed his blood to redeem us, forgive us, and purchase an inheritance for us. And, because of His sovereign will, He sealed us with the Holy Spirit, as a guarantee of this inheritance until we attain it.
In chapters 1, 2 & 3, Paul instructs us that because of the immeasurable greatness of His power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead and is now at work within us; and because of the great love with which he loved us: 1) He made us alive when we were formerly dead in our trespasses and sins and deserving of God’s wrath. 2) He prepared good works for us to do. 3) He came to make peace with us and to reveal the mystery that the Jews and the Gentiles were to be reconciled as one people; being built into one body, the church, a holy temple in the Lord.
So it is for these reasons, because of God’s great love and power, that Paul bends his knee in prayer to the Father. Note, that Paul mentions the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. To name something is to show ownership over something. Even though our rat terrier had the name Lady when she was given to us, we changed her name to Spots. We had the right and authority to do that because we now owned her. In the same way, because the Father wrote our names in the book of life and predestined us to be one of his children, He gave us the name Christian. And He has done so throughout history, so that every family in heaven, those Christians who have gone before us, and those of us still here on earth, bear His name. So it is to this God, with such great love and power, who gives us a new name, that Paul prays on behalf of the Ephesians and by extension, for us.
The first petition in Paul’s prayer, in v 16, is that according to the riches of his glory that God
would grant us to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in our inner being. I don’t know
about you, but I often feel weak. As I’ve gotten older, I have begun to feel the weakness of
aging. It’s much harder for me to keep up with the boys now, in fact, I can’t keep up with them
anymore. But, Paul reminds us in 2 Cor 4:16 to not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting
away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Notice that this occurs day by day. The main
way the Holy Spirit strengthens our inner man is by the daily discipline of spending time in His
inspired word; reading it, meditating on it, studying and memorizing it. So because God is rich
in love and by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we can be strengthened to do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think.
Paul’s second petition is that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith. John 14:23 tells
us, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” And in Eph 2:8-9, Paul tells us that we are saved by grace through faith and that this is a gift from God. It is by faith, that Christ comes to dwell in our hearts. The Greek word for dwell means to house or reside permanently. Once Christ enters our hearts he never leaves us or forsakes us (Heb 13:5). There is nothing that can snatch us out of his hands (Jn 10:28-29). So it is because of God’s great love and power to save and preserve us that we can live to bring glory to Him.
Paul’s third petition, also in v 17, is that we would be rooted and grounded in love. The
words rooted and grounded have the meaning of being stable, to lay a foundation, or even to erect something. Because of God’s great love and power at work within us we can weather the storms of life and we can build on the rock of Jesus. Col 2:6-7 points out further that being rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith, we are to walk in Him. As we walk in the good works which He prepared beforehand for us to do (Eph 2:10) we bring glory in the church and in Christ Jesus in this generation.
Paul’s 4th petition, in v18-19, is that we would comprehend and know the love of Christ. On
the one hand this is an impossible task. Paul points out that his love surpasses knowledge. Can we every really comprehend the love of Christ? It is so vast that Paul uses 4 dimensions to describe it: the breadth, length, height, and depth. Mathew Henry comments, “By enumerating these dimensions, the apostle designs to signify the exceeding greatness of the love of Christ, the unsearchable riches of his love, which is higher than heaven, deeper than hell, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea, Job_11:8, Job_11:9. Some describe the particulars thus: By the breadth of it we may understand the extent of it to all ages, nations, and ranks of men; by the length of it, its continuance from everlasting to everlasting; by the depth of it, its stooping to the lowest condition, with a design to relieve and save those who have sunk into the depths of sin and misery; by its height, its entitling and raising us up to the heavenly happiness and glory.” It is indeed a vast love. The Greek word for comprehend gives further insight, katalambanō means to take eagerly, seize, possess, apprehend, attain, come upon, find, obtain, or perceive. According to Thayer, it is to lay hold of so as to make one’s own, to obtain, attain to, to make one’s own, to take into one’s self, appropriate. God demonstrated this love to us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Saints throughout history have experienced this great love. As Timothy read earlier in Rom 8, we can never be separated from this love. And so as we, and all the saints throughout history, take hold of this great love and make it our own, we will want to love others (1 Jn 4:11) and share this love with other people. And as His saints do this they bring glory in the church and to Christ Jesus throughout all generations.
Finally, Paul prays that we would be filled with the fullness of God. Again, Paul seems to be
praying an impossibility. How can finite creatures be filled with the infinite? So what does he mean when he asks that we would be filled with the fullness of God? The Greek words are very similar for filled and fullness. The former has to do with making replete, that is, (literally) to cram, level up, to (be) complete, fill (up), to render full, perfect or to complete. Thayer defines it: to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim. The latter word, fullness, means repletion or completion, and can mean what fills (as contents, supplement, copiousness, multitude); that which fills or with which a thing is filled. The apostle John put it this way (Jn 1:16), “And from his (Christ’s) fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” The Holy Spirit is in the business of filling us with His fullness, all of His divine communicable attributes, that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. Earlier in this letter to the Ephesians (1:23), Paul also tells us that Christ, who fills all in all, is also filling His body, the church. He goes into greater detail about how that is done in Chapter 4. But suffice it to say for now, that because of God’s great love and power, he is able to do immeasurably great things; filling us and His body, to bring glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.
By this time in his prayer, Paul becomes so excited about this great love and power, that was at work in him and the church in Ephesus, that he breaks out in doxology: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Notice that Paul praises God for His power that is able to do far more, or exceeding abundantly than all we ask or think. The Greek word for power is dunamis (doo'-nam-is) where we get our word dyne, a unit of force, and the words dynamo, and dynamite. It is a mighty and explosive power. Peter (2 Pet 1;3) tells us that His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Do we believe God can do mighty things in and through us and this church? I must confess, I am one of little faith. However, Paul tells us God can do things greater than we think. He applies this mighty power at work in us in the rest of the letter. I would invite you all to join us on Sunday nights as we look at this further in the weeks ahead. For now, here is a brief preview. He tells us that this divine power is able to bring us to unity in the faith, to grow to maturity, and build up this church in love (4: 13-16). This mighty power enables us to put away the old sinful nature and renew the spirit of our minds allowing us to speak the truth and walk in love (4:17-5:15). This exceedingly abundant power works in us as the Holy Spirit fills us allowing parents to teach and train their children and in turn, children to obey them. It allows employees to faithfully serve their employers and employers to care for and fairly treat them. And, it allows husbands, as they submit to Christ, to love their wives like Christ loves His church and allows wives to submit to and respect their husbands. (5:21-6:9). You know Paul tells us it’s a mystery, but there is no greater testimony to the world of Christ’s love for the church, than a loving and faithful commitment to the marriage covenant between a husband and wife. Finally, Paul concludes with a power that is so great that we can overcome the schemes of the devil and the spiritual forces of darkness (6:10-20). When this mighty power accomplishes these things in our lives, it brings glory to God, Christ, and his church. These things don’t happen in the world and the lives of unbelievers. But when they see these good deeds they give glory to our Father in heaven (Mt 5:16). Paul also tells us in chapter 3:10, that through the power working in the church the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the rulers and authorities, or the angels, in the heavenly places. These life changing transformations in us and the church bring glory to God throughout all of His creation in all generations, forever and ever and can only occur because of God’s great love for us and His exceedingly abundant power at work within us.
So how about us, will we echo Paul’s petitions for us and others? Will we ask God to do
more than we ask or can imagine? Will we discipline and strengthen ourselves in the inner man? Many people discipline themselves with regular physical exercise, spending perhaps 30 minutes or more, several days a week walking, running, or working out? Do we devote that same discipline to Bible study and prayer? Remember the words of Paul in 1 Tim 4:7-8, “… train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Will we seek to comprehend the great love that God has lavished upon us? Will we show love to one another and demonstrate that we are Christ’s disciples (Jn 13:35) and share this love with those who do not know Christ so that they, too, might experience His great love and power? Will we allow the Holy Spirit to fill and complete us bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? If we will do these things, we can have no other response but to give praise and worship where it is due – to our Creator and Redeemer alone. John Piper sums it up like this, “When the massive weather front of God's love meets the massive weather front of God's power in the heart of a believer, it produces a hurricane of confidence called "Gloria"—a powerful doxology: "To him be GLORY in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever. Amen."